Jim Dunbar Thanks to the diligent research of Kristi Hawthorne, we now know that on April 9th 1962 an unknown caller rang the Oceanside Police Department and declared “I am going to pull something here in Oceanside and you will never be able to figure it out”. Two days later, in the early hours of April 11th 1962, taxicab driver Ray Davis was found shot to death and dumped in an alley by 1926 South Pacific Street in Oceanside. His vehicle was not located in close proximity to his body, having been driven away by the murderer and abandoned 1.5 miles northwest on the same street. One week later, on April 16th 1962, the same caller rang the Oceanside Police Department again and ominously reminded them of his previous contact by stating “Do you remember me calling you last week and telling you that I was going to pull a real baffling crime. I killed the cab driver and I am going to get me a bus driver next".
Many people have drawn comparisons between this crime and the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, noting that the sinister phone calls and the promise of a future threat on a bus driver mirrored elements of previous Zodiac activity, and his communications subsequent to the Stine murder which threatened to target school buses and their occupants. However, there were never any phone threats immediately prior to Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa or Presidio Heights. Or were there?
When the Zodiac impersonator rang into the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, the caller was asked by the host "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". Bearing in mind that Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli were working under the premise that this could be the Zodiac Killer, it makes the statement of "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago" very important. It opens up the possibility that the real Zodiac Killer tried to contact the show two or three weeks previous to October 22nd 1969. Allowing for some leeway (2 days either side), we will go with 12 to 23 days ago. This means that the real Zodiac Killer may have tried to phone the Jim Dunbar Show between September 30th 1969 and October 10th 1969. The earliest would have been three days after the Lake Berryessa attack, with the latest phone call the day before the taxicab murder of Paul Stine, just like the threat before the murder of Ray Davis in 1962.
Many people have drawn comparisons between this crime and the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, noting that the sinister phone calls and the promise of a future threat on a bus driver mirrored elements of previous Zodiac activity, and his communications subsequent to the Stine murder which threatened to target school buses and their occupants. However, there were never any phone threats immediately prior to Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa or Presidio Heights. Or were there?
When the Zodiac impersonator rang into the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, the caller was asked by the host "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". Bearing in mind that Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli were working under the premise that this could be the Zodiac Killer, it makes the statement of "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago" very important. It opens up the possibility that the real Zodiac Killer tried to contact the show two or three weeks previous to October 22nd 1969. Allowing for some leeway (2 days either side), we will go with 12 to 23 days ago. This means that the real Zodiac Killer may have tried to phone the Jim Dunbar Show between September 30th 1969 and October 10th 1969. The earliest would have been three days after the Lake Berryessa attack, with the latest phone call the day before the taxicab murder of Paul Stine, just like the threat before the murder of Ray Davis in 1962.
The host of the Jim Dunbar Show made this specific remark when questioning the fake Zodiac, asking "Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". It is fairly obvious that Eric Weill knew nothing about the call to the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks ago" by his lack of conviction. However, the phone caller to the Oakland Police Department at 2am on October 22nd 1969 knew all about this phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks ago", because the caller to the Oakland Police Department specifically requested either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey to appear on the show.
It can be no coincidence that the Oakland Police Department caller and the Jim Dunbar Show caller prior to the Stine murder, both wanted to appear on the TV show alongside Melvin Belli. And with the Oakland Police Department caller providing information to the patrolman who took the call, information about the killings only known to the real Zodiac, it would mean that the real Zodiac Killer did ring the Jim Dunbar Show in the days before the Stine murder. There would have been less reason for Eric Weill to want to appear on a San Francisco TV show before the Stine murder because no Zodiac murders had occurred in San Francisco, but the real Zodiac Killer had every reason to phone the Jim Dunbar TV Show in San Francisco prior to the Stine murder, because he was planning to kill somebody there.
The phone caller in Oceanside made the threat on the eve of the murder of taxicab driver Ray Davis, and it could have repeated itself on October 10th 1969 had the real Zodiac Killer managed to secure an appearance on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine. If the receptionist for the show had taken the call seriously (because it was very likely just another case of believing it to be a crank call), we may have heard from the real Zodiac Killer on the Jim Dunbar Show in early October, rather than Eric Weill crying about headaches on October 22nd 1969. If the Zodiac Killer had appeared on the show prior to the Stine murder and proclaimed “I am going to pull something here in San Francisco and you will never be able to figure it out”, before mailing a shirt piece several days after the murder for confirmation, then we may be looking at the Ray Davis case in a totally different light today. After all, he did say months later "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed".
It can be no coincidence that the Oakland Police Department caller and the Jim Dunbar Show caller prior to the Stine murder, both wanted to appear on the TV show alongside Melvin Belli. And with the Oakland Police Department caller providing information to the patrolman who took the call, information about the killings only known to the real Zodiac, it would mean that the real Zodiac Killer did ring the Jim Dunbar Show in the days before the Stine murder. There would have been less reason for Eric Weill to want to appear on a San Francisco TV show before the Stine murder because no Zodiac murders had occurred in San Francisco, but the real Zodiac Killer had every reason to phone the Jim Dunbar TV Show in San Francisco prior to the Stine murder, because he was planning to kill somebody there.
The phone caller in Oceanside made the threat on the eve of the murder of taxicab driver Ray Davis, and it could have repeated itself on October 10th 1969 had the real Zodiac Killer managed to secure an appearance on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine. If the receptionist for the show had taken the call seriously (because it was very likely just another case of believing it to be a crank call), we may have heard from the real Zodiac Killer on the Jim Dunbar Show in early October, rather than Eric Weill crying about headaches on October 22nd 1969. If the Zodiac Killer had appeared on the show prior to the Stine murder and proclaimed “I am going to pull something here in San Francisco and you will never be able to figure it out”, before mailing a shirt piece several days after the murder for confirmation, then we may be looking at the Ray Davis case in a totally different light today. After all, he did say months later "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed".
Melvin Belli Any phone call from the Zodiac Killer prior to the Paul Stine murder would have coincided with the "Good Citizen" letter mailed to Sergeant John Lynch at the Vallejo Police Department on October 7th 1969, stating ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. Therefore, we could have had a Zodiac phone call to Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli promising something sinister in San Francisco, followed by the murder of Paul Stine at the intersection of Washington & Cherry a few days later, by a killer last seen entering Presidio Park by Julius Kahn Playground, just 5,000 feet from Beach Street in San Francisco. Of all the streets to name in the Bay Area, the "Good Citizen" letter author not only chose one less than a mile from Julius Kahn Playground, but chose a street in the direction Zodiac was heading.
Having failed in his bid to appear on the Jim Dunbar Show with Melvin Belli, probably in early October, he would try again on October 22nd 1969, but this time he used the Oakland Police Department as the conduit by supplying them with details about the murders only known to him and the police. Obviously, what he gave them worked, because the Jim Dunbar Show hastily rearranged their scheduling and contacted Melvin Belli. I sincerely doubt they would have done all this without verification from the Oakland caller that he was indeed the real Zodiac Killer. Unfortunately for Zodiac, his grand declaration was hijacked by a mental patient, who literally stole the show.
Having failed in his bid to appear on the Jim Dunbar Show with Melvin Belli, probably in early October, he would try again on October 22nd 1969, but this time he used the Oakland Police Department as the conduit by supplying them with details about the murders only known to him and the police. Obviously, what he gave them worked, because the Jim Dunbar Show hastily rearranged their scheduling and contacted Melvin Belli. I sincerely doubt they would have done all this without verification from the Oakland caller that he was indeed the real Zodiac Killer. Unfortunately for Zodiac, his grand declaration was hijacked by a mental patient, who literally stole the show.
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